Draymond Green during the NBA Finals downplayed the NSFW chants he heard from Boston Celtics fans at TD Garden, even though Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and teammate Klay Thompson took issue with the foul-mouthed heckling.
In fact, the Warriors' longtime agitator seemingly embraced the tension, ultimately using it as motivation as Golden State defeated Boston in six games to claim its fourth NBA title in eight years.
Well, on Monday, Green explained he had just one problem with the fans' antics, which most notably included showering him with "(Expletive) you, Draymond" chants on basketball's biggest stage.
The issue: Being unable to respond without fear of being fined by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
"I used to feel like fans should be stopped from saying some of the things that they say," Green said on "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah. "Then, Commissioner Silver comes out and says, 'Hey man, those Boston fans are great' -- as they're saying '(Expletive) you, Draymond!'
"So I'm like, 'All right.' The commish is the best commissioner. Like I said in my tweet, he's probably one of the best CEOs in America, let alone commissioner of a sports league. But he's like, 'Oh, that's great.' So, my response to that is, 'Great, cool. Can I turn and yell, '(Expletive) them?' Because if I can, then no problem. Let them yell what they want to yell, I yell what I want to yell, and I continue down the court."
This isn't the first time the idea of a double standard has been mentioned with regards to crowd behavior, as there have been a few troubling instances in recent years of fans crossing the line. Fortunately, the vocal hostility didn't escalate to an unsafe degree during the NBA Finals, despite the frequent obscenities drawing the ire of Green's wife, among others.
Allowing players to shout back without the threat of repercussions sure would even the playing field, from a verbal sparring standpoint. But it'd also entail pouring gasoline on the fire.
"So, I think the thing for me is, like, at some point you're kind of allowing them to do this and encouraging it in a way," Green said. "Because they know, 'If I yell that to Draymond, and he says that back to me, he's getting fined $25,000, he's getting fined $50,000.' So, what I would say to commish is, 'No problem, that was fun, let them do their thing. But let me do my thing and don't hit my pocketbook.'"
Green probably shouldn't worry too much, though. He still has found a way to rub salt in Celtics fans' wounds in wake of the Warriors' NBA Finals victory.
